Olson’s No-Confidence Conversation, part two

by Jeremy Morrison

It’d been a long night by the time Melanie Nichols was hugging supporters in the lobby of Pensacola City Hall. She’d already thanked them once, as she spoke before the city council and Mayor Ashton Hayward, for being the element that “sustained me during this nightmare.”

“It was pretty much what I expected,” Nichols said. “I knew he wasn’t going to do anything.”

The president of the North Hill Preservation Association seemed personally hurt by Mayor Hayward, who on Monday let it be known he had no intention of taking any action against his city administrator following an incident that has been described as “chilling,” “beyond the pale,” and last night, “heinous.”

“I will never speak to him again,” Nichols said. “I have no respect for him.”

The city council’s message to Mayor Hayward was less decisive. It delivered him a 4 – 4 split on a no-confidence vote in City Administrator Eric Olson. Council members Charles Bare, Sherri Myers, Charles Wingate and Brian Spencer voted in favor of the rebuke.

“This was an egregious error in judgement, and I think Mr. Olson knows what he did was wrong,” scolded Council President Andy Terhaar, before the vote was taken.

The marathon meeting amounted to a ceremonial dress down of Olson, who had contacted Nichols’ employer (she’s a contractor with the Navy) to complain that she was sending emails to the city from her military email account. Widely read as an overstep that could be interpreted as intimidation from a city official, the action sparked a barrage of criticism from citizens, the media and elected officials.

The evening began with an apology from Olson. The city administrator delivered his concession to Nichols and the community at large after defending his actions through clinched teeth for a week.

“In hindsight, I should have taken a different approach,” Olson said, “and I apologize for not doing so.”

Later on, the mayor weighed in on the issue.

“I asked Mr. Olson, ‘did he call somebody to get them fired?’ He said, ‘absolutely not.’ I moved on,” Hayward said. “This is not personal. It never was. I believe Mr. Olson has zero intent to hurt Mrs. Nichols.”

Citizen after citizen disagreed, and used the city council forum to let Olson know how they felt.

“What you did was lousy, and what’s happened since the situation came to light has been lousy,” said Laura McKnight. “Mr. Olson, I don’t have confidence in your ability as administrator, but that’s something that you’ve done, and not something that we’ve done.”

There were calls to fire the administrator. Calls to withhold his salary. Calls for discipline of some kind.

But that wasn’t going to happen. The mayor had already stated such following council’s Monday agenda session, then again in subsequent media interviews. Olson had doubled-down on his rationale for calling Nichols’ employer and mayoral supporter and self-proclaimed spokesperson Fred Levin had compared the neighborhood volunteer to a rapist in the media.

“I’m still not convinced anything wrong happened,” Councilman Larry B. Johnson summed up the sentiment.

Instead, Hayward offered up a slogan from Cadillac — “penalty of leadership” — and a few words about moving the city forward.

“We’re all in this together,” the mayor said. “I can take the hits, they’re not fun.”

To Nichols it sounded about as genuine as Olson’s apology and the city’s position that the administrator — retired from the Navy — was simply attempting to alert the Navy to an employee using her work email account for non work business.

“He knew what he did,” Nichols said after the meeting. “He didn’t call my boss to recommend a promotion.”

The neighborhood volunteer still believes she was targeted for her opposition to a radio tower in the Long Hollow Storm Basin. She points to public records request pertaining to the tower as the source of the city’s ire. She thinks that’s why the city has aggressively tended to the issue since it became public.

“Yes, it was the tower,” Nichols said. “I think they were trying to discredit me. I was asking the right questions.”

Nichols had already sent the city a cease and desist letter following Olson’s call to her boss. Thursday evening, she said she was moving forward with a lawsuit against the city for harassment and violation of her first amendment rights.

“They have continued to make false allegations,” Nichols said. “They did not cease the harassment.”

The community volunteer also said she didn’t buy Olson’s apology.

“That was not an apology,” Nichols said before walking out of city hall. “He apologized for the perception of what he did.”